Janet and Tom Delaney's 1967 Corvette Coupe

Monday

Jul 30, 2007 at 2:00 AM

Town: Warwick

Town: Warwick

Color: Marlboro Maroon w/black stinger hood

Mileage: 46,411

Under the hood: This car has a 427/400hp engine with the tri-power setup (three 2-barrel carbs). This coupe is one of fewer than 200 that were equipped with factory air conditioning, and it's still freon and ice cold. The car is a completely numbers-correct car.

Origin: The car was originally purchased in Florida, and the original Florida license plates have been passed on to each owner, and they are still on the car.

Special features: This car in general is special. It's the last year of this body style, and really was never meant to exist. GM wasn't ready to reveal the new look (which turned out to be the 1968 Corvette), so they made this body style one more year and "tweaked" it. It has become the most collectible of all Corvettes. It is the only year that the hand brake is located on the center console, and it is the only year that has the reverse light above the rear license plate. This vehicle came out of the factory with side exhaust, air conditioning, and the factory redline tires and bolt-on wheels. It is, of course, also a close-ratio 4-speed.

Value: $135,000

Favorite place to cruise: My younger son, Kevin, likes to drive over to Sussex Airport, where we can take the car up onto the runway and let it "open up."

Favorite cruise music: Billy Idol's "Shock to the System"

Your dream car: Oddly enough, this is not it. My favorite Corvette is a 1973 Coupe (yellow) with a 454hp 4-speed. The 1973 Corvette was a bit of an oddity. The federal government wanted GM to go to the 5-mph bumpers, but GM begged to only change one of the bumpers so that they didn't lose the faithful. The car wound up being a one-year body style with the split chrome bumper in the rear and the molded 5-mph bumper up front.

Most embarrassing moment: The first time I took the car to a friend's house to show him the car, the whole family came out. When I went to leave, the car almost didn't start. Turned out that the alternator was not putting out enough of a charge for the voltage regulator for the size of the engine.

On which make and model did you learn to drive, and did you pass the first time? A 1967 Pontiac, and no I didn't pass the first time. I used two feet, one for the brake, and one for the gas. Apparently, you weren't allowed to do that, in case you had a clutch.

Other rides: Janet has a 1983 Datsun 280ZX with 49,000 original miles. My other ride is a 2002 Chrysler Sebring Convertible.

What bugs you about other drivers? Talking on the cell phone while driving is not only dangerous, it's against the law. There's no excuse for not using a "hands free" device. I was injured severely in a car accident, and almost died, because someone was talking on a cell phone.

Other: The last two owners of this particular car were master judges for the NCRS (National Corvette Restorers Society), so painstaking detail has been paid to keeping everything original. The undercarriage and engine are as they were when new.